Former Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Jeffrey Donaldson has been stripped of his knighthood by the King.
Donaldson, who was an MP from 1997 until 2024, was convicted in June of 18 counts of sex abuse including one count of rape, which he committed against two women when they were children.
In the aftermath of his conviction he asked to be removed from the Privy Council and for his knighthood to be forfeited.
On Thursday a notice was published in the Gazette, external – one of the UK’s official journals of record – stating that Charles III had directed the cancellation of Donaldson’s knighthood.
The notice, published by the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood stated: “THE KING has directed the cancellation and annulment of the knighthood conferred upon Jeffrey Mark Donaldson on the 11 June 2016 as a Knight Bachelor.”
Donaldson was awarded the honour in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in 2016.
He was removed from the Privy Council, which advises the monarch, earlier in July.
The forfeiture of his knighthood means his wife Eleanor Donaldson loses the courtesy title of Lady Donaldson.
She had faced a trial of the facts on mental health grounds, meaning the jury was asked to find out if she did the acts or did not do the acts of which she was accused.
They found that she had done the acts in relation to all five charges – including four counts of aiding and abetting her husband’s offending.
